Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Archie's Mega Man Going on Hiatus

As reported by ComicBook.com, Archie's Mega Man comic is going on an indefinite hiatus following a final story arc beginning with Mega Man #53. It may not be permanent, says Archie Action editor Vincent Lovallo, but things are certainly powering down later this year.

"We are currently wrapping up the “Worlds Unite” crossover, which ties into our Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe and Sonic Boom comic series, writes Lovallo. "We’ll only be scratching the surface of the next major Mega Man storyline after that, we figured now is the right time before we dive deep into that plot."

Lovallo then goes on to allude the decision came from Archie themselves, not Capcom:

"We have a great relationship with both Capcom and Sega. We’ve been
working with Sega for the past 20+ years and Capcom for almost five now.
Capcom is very understanding of our decisions and we are both looking
forward to working on future projects and collaborations."

The solicitation for issue #53 reads:

"The BLUE BOMBER is BACK from the events of "Worlds Unite" and is ready
to fight for justice! That's all well and good, if there was actually
someone to fight! In "Blue Shift," peace has finally come to Mega Man’s
life—but is that a bad thing? Could it be possible that our super
fighting robot has come to actually love the battles he was once so
opposed to? Meanwhile, Dr. Wily plots something sinister from the
shadows, reaching an even newer low for the mad doctor! It’s an extended
curtain call as we come to the end of the Mega Man series! Featuring
cover art from Jason Piperberg and a BOT UNDER FIRE variant from
superstar Thomas Pitilli!"

32 comments:

I take no pleasure in this. A Megaman comic, in any form, should be a beautiful thing. And I so wanted to support it, I really did. But somehow it quickly took on a form that I simply couldn't abide, and many precious opportunities to do great stories were lost to insipid cash-cow crossover events.But this should not be taken to mean that there is no demand for a Megaman comic, far from it. But the masses of fans spoke with their wallets and not so surprising, their sentiments were similar, if not identical to my own: "I want a MegaMan comic, just not the way Archie chooses to make it".

But I'd also like to reestablish another sentiment of mine that I think has been shown to have more merit than a lot of folks around here would have ever admitted: THIS IS ALL IAN FLYNN'S FAULT! HIS LOUSY WRITING SPOILED OUR GREATEST CHANCE FOR A LONG-STANDING "QUALITY" MEGAMAN COMIC AND HE SHOULD *** **** *** FOR IT!

Actually I only half believe that, I also suspect Capcom shut down the comic in preparation for Megaman's "Sonic Boom-esque" re-branding.

What the heck are you talking about? Last I checked the Mega Man comics have been selling really well and have been getting really good reviews from both fans and editors. Nothing of what you just said makes sense.

Besides, nothing of what they said suggested this is a permanent end. I really hope it isn't.

The hiatus has nothing to do with the comic's sales. It's actually been selling fairly well, if anything. The hiatus has something to do with some really dumb decisions Archie's made that's forced them to cut back on how many titles they produce. It's the reason why the Sonic Boom comic is getting cancelled, despite that it was also selling fairly well.

I don't want people to just be introduced to MM, I want people to be introduced to MM in the right way. The Archie comics generally aren't the right way. That is my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

I'm gonna be very honest though, it wasn't really that Ian killed it per say or anything like that, it was the reduction of quality art a lot of the time and the Sonic crossovers that killed it for me. I did disagree with the writing a lot of the time too though.

When you consider that the classic Mega Man games barely have any plot at all, you have to admit that the writing wasn't half bad.

It's understandable that one would want a more faithful adaption for those new to Mega Man, but I think that Ian did a good job working with what he was given.

Anyway, that's your opinion and I respect it, but I hope that the comic does continue eventually. And who knows, maybe they will do a better job after some time thinking things through?

As for the crossovers, the first one was made more out necessity to save the Mega Man comic than anything, and the second is pretty decent so far. Leagues better than the first one. I suggest that you give it a try. The latest issue (Mega Man #50) is pretty interesting.

I'm REALLY hoping this hiatus only lasts a year, because Mega Man is Archie's best video game series (this is coming from a fan of their Sonic comics).

If they kick this indefinitely, well...

THERE WERE EIGHT MORE MAIN CLASSIC GAMES TO COVER, NOT TO MENTION THAT THEY TEASED THE GAME BOY GAMES, WHICH WOULD AT LEAST MAKE THREE MORE YEARS OF COMICS IF THEY DROPPED THEIR OWN ORIGINAL STORIES (WHICH WERE AWESOME BY THE WAY) AND WAS I THE ONLY PERSON WHO EXPECTED THEM TO MAKE AN X SPIN-OFF SERIES AFTER DAWN OF X BECAUSE THEY HAVE TWO SONIC COMIC SERIES IT'S ONLY FAIR TO GIVE MEGA MAN THE SAME TREATMENT

(Sorry, had to get that Higsby out of me...)

Where was I? Oh, yeah...

Archie's series helped stimulate the fanbase during the hiatus, and it did a great job of it. I hope the hiatus ends soon. Mega Man 4 was one of the adaptations I was looking forward to.

This can't be happening!!!! This is the ONLY comic book series I love to read!!!!! What will I be reading nowwwww!!!!!!

This sux out loud and I loved every aspect of the series. I loved the way they transition nicely from arc to arc. The best stories were Let the games begin, the return of Dr. Wily, Spiritus ex Machina, Proto mans origin story, and Rock of Ages. I really came to love Quake Woman as I wanted to see her develop into a more well endowed character. Come to think of it, the Mega Man comic book series is way better than any of the Sonic comic series because it had better stories, awesome artwork, a perfect amount of characters, and it actually follows the games stories. So many great ideas to come, a Megaman X comic book series, a Megaman multiverse story, Proto Man unmasked, Rolls own story. Sadly will never happen now. Why couldn't they cancel the Sonic Boom series instead.

For what it's worth they have cancelled Sonic Boom, and have done so a few months earlier than Megaman (it won't even get an any episodes after the Worlds Unite crossover, whereas at least Megaman will get a final-ish storyline from the sound of this).

I agree with you though, I was really enjoying the Archie Megaman stories. I'm not that familliar with the games but I was looking forward to seeing what they did with various characters and enjoyed the more philosophical tone the series had in comparison to the Sonic comics. If anything I almost wish they'd have cancelled Sonic Universe instead, so at least we'd get some continuation of the story in both Universes.

Well, this comic has an annoying thing of stopping the main storyline every four issues, but it is the best western attempt of a megaman comic. But I think it's selling below Archie's expectations and they've decided to stop it. At least Capcom is releasing old stuff again.

Aww... ;_; I hope the hiatus doesn't last long as it is one of my favorite comic series. True that Ian is working a lot (StH, SU, SB, MM, and specials like SSSM, SSD, FCBD, WUB, ...), but I think Sonic Universe should be the one to take a pause as there are many Sonic comics, or at least make it and Mega Man bimonthly or quarterly to reduce the work...

Really hard to understand this, if the comic sells well and Capcom is OK with it, why the hiatus?. Even if they are working on something to pair with the new tv show, there is no need to stop this now. Maybe the real problem is Archie and the problems they had lately with the failed kickstarter campaign and other stuff.

Good riddance! Those comics were dragging Megaman down to Sonic's level. Better to let him just die, rather than have us wish he was dead. Archie's OCs were horrible, the flow was being constantly hindered by those obnoxious Sonic cross-overs and all the dialog sounds like people ribbing on each other on an internet forum. They just weren't worth it, even if they did bear the Megaman name.

Aw man... just when things were getting good. Some robot masters reforming, but not all of them. Mr. X being a real person, and a total villain instead of some benevolent tycoon. And even though this crossover so far hasn't been up to par with the last one, I'm still loving all the character interactions. Especially the heroic Wily masters and seeing X and Rock have a conversation.

The beginning of the series was really good, but then there were to many issues that had nothing to do with the storyline, too much crossovers, drawings quality declining, double standards with Light robots treating only Rock,Roll and protoman as siblings and not the rest, etc, etc